Xilinx XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I: Price, Stock & AMD Xilinx 8-Channel RFSoC Specs

The XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I is AMD’s (formerly Xilinx) Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC Gen 3 device in a 1517-ball FCBGA: eight 14-bit RF-ADCs sampling up to 5.0 GSPS, eight 14-bit RF-DACs up to 9.85 GSPS, eight hardened SD-FEC cores, and a 930K-logic-cell programmable-logic fabric wrapped around a quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 and dual-core Cortex-R5F. It is an active production part, but not a shelf item — expect quote-based pricing and factory lead times in the 25 to 40 week range. Below is the full spec sheet, a part-number decode, current sourcing reality, and the parts no datasheet tells you: how to actually lay out and assemble a board around this device.

XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I Key Takeaways

• Device: Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC Gen 3 (ZU48DR), 8× 14-bit 5 GSPS ADC, 8× 14-bit DAC to 9.85 GSPS, 8× SD-FEC.
• Logic: ≈930K system logic cells, 4,272 DSP slices, 38.0 Mb block RAM, up to 16 GTY transceivers (up to 32.75 Gb/s).
• Package: FFVG1517 — 1517-ball FCBGA, 40×40 mm, 1.0 mm ball pitch, -2 speed grade, I = industrial (-40 to +100 °C TJ), RoHS3.
• Sourcing: Not normally stocked; quote-based pricing; 25–40 week lead times; RFSoC export controls apply (you will sign an End-Use Statement).
• Board: Plan a controlled-impedance HDI stack-up, via-in-pad under the BGA, and X-ray-verified assembly to IPC-A-610 Class 3.

What Is the XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I?

The XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I is a single-chip software-defined radio platform. AMD’s RFSoC line folds the data converters that normally sit as separate ADC and DAC chips directly onto the silicon, alongside the Xilinx FPGA fabric and a full Arm processing system. That direct-RF-sampling architecture removes the JESD204 link between converter and logic — the single biggest source of power, latency and board area in a traditional radio. AMD quotes up to roughly 50% lower power and footprint versus a multi-chip converter-plus-FPGA design.

This particular part is a Gen 3 device. Gen 3 is what matters for bandwidth: the ADCs jump to 14-bit resolution at 5.0 GSPS and the DACs reach 9.85 GSPS, against the 12-bit, 4.096 GSPS converters of the original Gen 1 ZU28DR. Eight channels each direction make the ZU48DR the high-bandwidth-per-channel member of the family — it is the silicon AMD ships on its own ZCU208 and RFSoC 4×2 evaluation boards, so reference designs and PYNQ support are mature.

Typical end uses: sub-6 GHz 5G radios and massive MIMO, phased-array and early-warning radar, electronic warfare and SIGINT, satellite and test-and-measurement gear. Anywhere you need wide instantaneous bandwidth and the ability to push signal processing into the digital domain, this is the class of device engineers reach for.

XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I Specifications and Resources

Verified against the AMD Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC data sheet (DS889) and the UltraScale architecture overview (DS890):

Parameter	XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I
RF-ADC	8 channels, 14-bit, up to 5.0 GSPS, with digital down-converters (DDC)
RF-DAC	8 channels, 14-bit, up to 9.85 GSPS, with digital up-converters (DUC)
SD-FEC	8 hardened soft-decision FEC cores (LDPC + Turbo)
System logic cells	≈930K
DSP slices	4,272
Block RAM	38.0 Mb (plus UltraRAM)
Application processor	Quad-core Arm Cortex-A53, up to 1.33 GHz
Real-time processor	Dual-core Arm Cortex-R5F, up to 533 MHz
GTY transceivers	Up to 16, up to 32.75 Gb/s (package-limited)
PCIe / PS-GTR	Integrated PCIe block; 4× PS-GTR up to 6.0 Gb/s
Memory	DDR4 / DDR3 / LPDDR4 controllers; QSPI, NAND, eMMC
Speed grade	-2
Temperature grade	Industrial (I): -40 °C to +100 °C junction
Package	FFVG1517 — 1517-ball FCBGA, 40×40 mm, 1.0 mm pitch
Compliance / status	RoHS3; Active / Production

Decoding the XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I Part Number

Every field in the order code maps to a hardware decision. Reading it correctly stops you from quoting the wrong die, package or temperature grade:

Field	Meaning
XC	Standard Xilinx/AMD commercial product prefix
ZU48DR	Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC, device 48, DR = RF data-converter (RFSoC) variant
-2	Speed grade 2 (faster timing than -1)
FFVG	Lidded flip-chip BGA package family, 1.0 mm ball pitch
1517	1517-ball count (40×40 mm body)
I	Industrial temperature grade (vs. E = extended)

One trap worth flagging: the evaluation-board silicon is the XCZU48DR-2FSVG1517E, not the FFVG…I. Same 1517 footprint and -2 speed grade, but a different package option and an extended (E) temperature grade. They are footprint-compatible, yet they are not the same orderable part — match the exact suffix to your BOM and your thermal spec.

XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I Price, Stock and Lead Time

Here is the honest sourcing picture as of mid-2026. The XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I is an active production device, but distributors do not keep it on the shelf and most do not publish a unit price — it is a request-for-quote part. Across the major catalogs:

• Stock: typically zero on-hand at authorized distributors; built to order against the factory.
• Lead time: roughly 25 weeks at the low end, up to 40 weeks quoted on some channels.
• Pricing: quote-only; unit cost scales with quantity, speed grade and lifecycle, so a one-off prototype and a production reel are different numbers.

That lead time drives a real trade-off. The temptation, when the factory quotes 30-plus weeks, is to buy from an open-market broker promising stock next week. On an RFSoC that is a genuine counterfeit and re-marked-die risk — a five-figure part with no authorized paper trail is exactly what gets cloned. The safer play is to lock an authorized order early and bridge the schedule elsewhere, rather than gamble the BOM on a gray-market lot. Pull your XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I demand forecast forward and place the long-lead order before the rest of the BOM is frozen.

PCB Design for the XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I: Stack-Up, Impedance and HDI

A 1517-ball, 1.0 mm-pitch FCBGA with GHz-class converters and 32.75 Gb/s transceivers is not a part you escape on a 4-layer board. Designing the carrier FPGA board around it is where most of the engineering risk lives, and where a fab partner earns their keep.

Start with the stack-up. Escaping 1517 balls at 1.0 mm pitch, while keeping the high-speed transceiver pairs and the RF data-converter lines clean, realistically needs 14–20+ layers with a controlled-impedance build — typically 50 Ω single-ended and 100 Ω differential, held to ±10% on a Class 2 board or tighter for Class 3. Use a low-loss laminate, not bog-standard FR-4: a high-speed material such as Panasonic Megtron 6/7 keeps the dielectric loss (Df) low enough that the GTY links and the RF-sampled converter routes survive to the connector. Confirm the laminate’s Tg and Td support your reflow and field temperatures.

Under the BGA itself, plan for via-in-pad — there is no room to dog-bone out 1.0 mm-pitch balls in the inner array. That means filled-and-capped microvias and an HDI build with controlled aspect ratio, which in turn drives your fab’s capability and cost. Back-drilling the longer through-vias removes stub resonance on the fastest transceiver lanes; skip it and you will see the insertion-loss penalty climb on a TDR. As a rough feel for why material matters: at 10 GHz, ordinary FR-4 can run on the order of 0.8 dB/inch insertion loss, where a low-loss RF laminate sits closer to 0.3 dB/inch — on a long GTY route that delta is the difference between a closed and an open eye.

Power Integrity and Decoupling

The ZU48DR is a multi-rail device drawing serious transient current across the PS, PL, converter and transceiver domains. Treat the power-delivery network as a first-class design, not an afterthought: dedicated plane pairs per rail, a decoupling scheme staged from bulk to high-frequency ceramics placed tight under the BGA, and clean separation of the RF converter analog supplies from the noisy digital rails. A return-path discontinuity under a converter line shows up directly as spurs in your spectrum.

Thermal Design

That 40×40 mm lid concentrates a lot of dissipation. The industrial grade is rated to a 100 °C junction, and you will not stay under it on a fully loaded RFSoC by convection alone — a heatsink, and often forced air, is assumed. Design the copper for heat spreading (thermal via-in-pad arrays and heavy copper under the device help), and budget the mechanical stack for a sink and airflow before the enclosure is locked. Reference RFSoC system-on-modules ship with fan-sinks for exactly this reason.

Assembling the 1517-Ball FCBGA: Reflow, Voiding and Inspection

Placing the part is the easy bit. Getting 1517 balls to reflow without voids, opens or warpage-induced corner failures on a large-body FCBGA is the discipline. A few specifics that separate a yielding line from a field-return generator:

1. Profile for the package, not the paste. On a 40×40 mm body, the centre and corners reach peak temperature at different times. A controlled soak that lets the whole lid equalize beats a fast ramp — counterintuitively, a faster ramp can warp the package and pop corner balls open even though it looks gentler on the paste datasheet.
2. Match the pad finish to your goal. ENIG gives a flat, solderable, long-shelf-life surface that suits fine-pitch BGA work; OSP is cheaper but less forgiving on a high-ball-count part with rework risk. The ENIG cost premium buys coplanarity and repeatability — usually worth it here.
3. X-ray every device, AOI the rest. You cannot inspect inner BGA balls optically. X-ray catches voiding, head-in-pillow and bridging under the array; AOI handles the surrounding passives and fine-pitch leads. Inspect to IPC-A-610 Class 3 if this is going into radar, aerospace or defense.
4. Control void area. Excess voiding under a power or ground ball degrades both thermal and electrical performance; J-STD-001 and your IPC-A-610 class set the acceptance limits — agree them with your assembler up front, not after the first build.

A real example: a defense SDR client shipped a first article that passed AOI and powered up clean, then saw intermittent dropouts in thermal cycling. X-ray on the returns showed corner-ball voiding on the RFSoC — a reflow profile tuned for the small passives, not the big lid. Re-profiling around the package and adding 100% X-ray on the device closed it. Honesty up front about the package’s warpage behaviour would have saved the spin. If you want a second set of eyes before you commit, send your Gerber and BOM for a DFM review early.

XCZU48DR vs ZU47DR vs ZU49DR: Picking the Right Gen 3 RFSoC

If the XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I is on your shortlist, these are its closest Gen 3 neighbours. The decision is rarely “more is better” — it is bandwidth-per-channel versus channel count for the same aggregate sample budget.

Device	RF-ADC	RF-DAC	Best fit
ZU43DR	8× 14-bit, 2.5 GSPS	8× 14-bit, to 9.85 GSPS	Cost-sensitive 8-channel, lower ADC rate
ZU47DR	8× 14-bit, 5.0 GSPS	8× 14-bit, to 9.85 GSPS	8-channel, similar bandwidth, fewer logic resources
ZU48DR	8× 14-bit, 5.0 GSPS	8× 14-bit, to 9.85 GSPS	Max bandwidth-per-channel, full logic — this part
ZU49DR	16× 14-bit, 2.5 GSPS	16× 14-bit, to 9.85 GSPS	Massive MIMO / large phased array, 16 channels

The counterintuitive one is the ZU49DR. Doubling to 16 channels does not give you more bandwidth — it splits roughly the same converter budget across twice as many ports and adds logic for beamforming. If your application is wide bandwidth on a handful of channels, the ZU48DR is the right tool; the ZU49DR only wins when you genuinely need the channel count.

Another non-obvious point: the headline 9.85 GSPS DAC rate is not free. Reaching the top of that range relies on interpolation and, per the AMD data sheet, 10 GSPS-class DAC operation is sales-gated — you contact AMD to enable it. Architect for the rate you can actually license, or a board drawn for “10 GSPS on paper” may never legally run there. For background on the broader programmable-logic family these devices belong to, see our overview of the FPGA landscape.

Export Control and Sourcing: What Buyers Miss

This is the line item the distributor pages skip, and it bites schedules. RFSoC devices and kits are export-controlled. AMD requires purchasers of Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC evaluation kits to complete an End-Use Statement before the order ships, and the silicon itself carries an Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) you need to confirm against the U.S. Commerce Control List for your destination and end use. If you are shipping boards internationally, classify the XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I early — discovering an export hold after you have committed a 30-week buy is an expensive surprise.

Two practical consequences. First, build the End-Use Statement and ECCN check into your procurement timeline, not the shipping step. Second, keep the whole supply chain authorized: re-marked or undocumented RFSoC die not only risk counterfeit failures, they can also put you on the wrong side of export rules with no traceability to defend it.

Common Mistakes With the XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I (DFM Checklist)

Send this list to the junior engineer before they release the board. Each one is a spin we have seen burned:

• Confusing the orderable part with the eval silicon — FFVG1517I (industrial) is not the FSVG1517E on the ZCU208. Match the exact suffix.
• Designing around the 9.85 GSPS DAC rate without confirming the interpolation mode and sales enablement that rate requires.
• Escaping a 1.0 mm-pitch inner array without via-in-pad and HDI — then discovering the fab cannot route it.
• Specifying standard FR-4 for GTY and RF-converter routes and losing the eye to dielectric loss; use a low-Df laminate and back-drill the fast lanes.
• Tuning the reflow profile for the small passives and warping the 40×40 mm lid; profile for the package and X-ray every device.
• Treating thermal as an enclosure problem; the 100 °C junction needs a sink and usually airflow designed in from the start.
• Leaving export classification (ECCN / End-Use Statement) to the shipping step on a 25–40 week lead-time part.

Frequently Asked Questions About the XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I

What is the XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I used for?

It is a Gen 3 Zynq UltraScale+ RFSoC used for wide-bandwidth radio systems: 5G and massive MIMO, phased-array and early-warning radar, electronic warfare, SIGINT, satellite communications, and high-end test and measurement. Its eight 5 GSPS ADCs and DACs make it a single-chip software-defined radio platform.

How many ADC and DAC channels does the XCZU48DR have?

Eight RF-ADC channels and eight RF-DAC channels, all 14-bit. The ADCs sample up to 5.0 GSPS and the DACs up to 9.85 GSPS, each with on-chip digital down- and up-converters. Eight hardened SD-FEC cores round out the RF signal chain.

What is the difference between the FFVG1517I and FSVG1517E versions?

Both are 1517-ball, -2 speed-grade ZU48DR devices and are footprint-compatible. The FFVG…I is the industrial-temperature production package (-40 to +100 °C junction); the FSVG…E is an extended-grade package used on AMD’s ZCU208 evaluation board. They are different orderable parts — match your BOM exactly.

What is the lead time for the XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I?

It is an active production part but not normally stocked. Factory lead times typically run from about 25 weeks up to 40 weeks depending on channel and quantity. Because of that, place authorized long-lead orders early rather than relying on open-market stock.

Is the XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I export controlled?

Yes. RFSoC devices and their evaluation kits are export-controlled; AMD requires an End-Use Statement for RFSoC kits, and the part carries an ECCN you should verify against the Commerce Control List for your destination and end use. Build that check into procurement, not shipping.

What package does the XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I use?

A 1517-ball flip-chip BGA (FFVG1517), 40×40 mm body, 1.0 mm ball pitch. The fine-pitch inner array means the carrier board needs via-in-pad, an HDI/controlled-impedance stack-up, and X-ray-verified assembly to IPC-A-610 Class 3 for high-reliability programs.

Build Your XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I Board With Confidence

The XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I rewards engineering rigor: confirm the exact suffix against your BOM, lock the long-lead authorized order early with the export paperwork started, design a low-loss controlled-impedance HDI stack-up with via-in-pad under the BGA, and prove the assembly with 100% X-ray to IPC-A-610 Class 3. Get those right and the part does what it promises — a single-chip, eight-channel RF front end with bandwidth to spare.

Send us your Gerber and BOM for a free DFM review and an XCZU48DR-2FFVG1517I quote, and we will flag the stack-up, thermal and assembly risks before you commit to fab.